Charity officials could be given powers to carry out snap inspections of independent schools as part of a new drive to ensure that they are benefiting poor pupils.

Schools failing to pass a new "public benefit" test could have their charitable status taken away from them, under new proposals being considered by the Charity Commission.

Schools that refuse to adhere to the system could have their trustees suspended or even have their bank accounts frozen.

Under Labour's recent shake-up of charity law, fee-paying schools no longer have the automatic right to call themselves charities - a status that brings tax breaks worth £100 million a year.

New legislation means that independent schools that were previously entitled to charitable status automatically will now have to prove that they are benefiting the public.

The Charity Commission, which is in charge of ensuring that the new legislation is being carried out by organisations, will meet tomorrow to discuss strict new guidelines showing how independent schools will justify their status.

One way that has been suggested is that independent schools could offer more bursaries to children from low-income families and even offer coaching lessons to help less advantaged children get into top universities.

It has also been suggested that fee-paying schools should share their facilities, such as playing fields and theatres, with nearby state schools.

In a consultation document published ahead of a finalised guidance, it was revealed that every school will be expected to include ways in which they intend to benefit students from less privileged backgrounds in an annual report.

The news comes after a headmaster of a leading independent school claimed that "politics of envy" were behind the reasons for threatening to strip public schools of their charitable status.

Earlier this month, Dr Bernard Trafford warned ministers to keep their "hands off" public schools and that hostility towards fee-paying establishments was "alive and well".

Rosie Chapman, an executive director of the Charity Commission, said schools would have to satisfy a public benefit test from as early as next year.

Officials are hoping to publish a timetable for considering guidance across the range of charities before the end of the year.

"What is new and will cause a shift in culture is that now trustees need to think about essentially why they are there, and what it is that organisation is doing to provide a public benefit," she said.

Ms Chapman added: "Inevitably if you have a statutory requirement ... Down the track one does enforce it."

Jonathan Shephard, general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, said that he did not see any problems arising with the new move.

"We welcome the intention to work with umbrella bodies; it will save a lot of time," he said. "However, they are entitled to look at individual charities as well."